Paramount has taken its $30-per-share WBD offer directly to shareholders, launching a $108.4 billion hostile tender backed by sovereign funds and major banks. The move intensifies its battle with Netflix, whose smaller bid would spin off WBD’s cable networks and merge HBO Max with Netflix’s global platform. Paramount argues that its fully consolidated approach preserves ecosystem value, avoids heavy antitrust scrutiny, and protects theatrical output, while Netflix’s deal would concentrate subscription and premium-video power. For marketers, the stakes are substantial: a Netflix acquisition could limit ad-supported supply and raise prices, while a Paramount deal maintains competition, inventory diversity, and greater planning clarity.
Netflix will officially acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) streaming and studio assets in an $82.7 billion deal, the company announced Friday morning. Netflix stated it has secured $59 billion in financing from a collection of banks to finalize the deal. This is a coup for Netflix. Acquiring Warner Bros. will provide exclusive control over intellectual property such as DC, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and HBO Originals. Ted Sarandos agreed, framing the acquisition as a rare but necessary shift for Netflix to maintain its leadership.
After Netflix announced its plans to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Friday, advertisers were left questioning the future of streaming advertising across two of the industry’s strongest ad-supported platforms. Even amid uncertainty on the deal’s future, the current strategy for advertisers is to prepare for a consolidated streaming market where a select few players command audience attention.
Short-form video platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts contribute to poorer cognitive and mental health, or “brain rot”, among viewers, per an analysis by Griffith University researchers. Research has previously linked social media use to mental health risks, especially for adolescents and young adults, but the rapid spread of short-form video adds a newer and increasingly common point of exposure.
Streaming TV advertising is moving toward transparency and accountability as DoubleVerify (DV) brings Open Measurement (OM SDK), a standard in desktop and mobile advertising, to streaming environments. Expanding access to OM SDK and providing standards for transparency in streaming will enable advertisers to plan and measure streaming ad campaigns effectively—marking a major industry shift.
Publicis Groupe’s 100th-anniversary film, “A Lion Never Gives Up,” blends live action with 4,500 AI-generated images to retell the company’s evolution and project its future. With more than half its workforce now in data, engineering, and AI, leadership says the next era will reward companies that fuse creativity with machine-driven operational scale. The film lands as Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG reshapes the competitive field, and Publicis argues its AI maturity gives it an edge in a more concentrated market.
NBC News is introducing an ad-free, subscription-based streaming platform that consolidates its full lineup of content, spanning linear broadcasts, podcasts, live channels from NBC-owned stations, and original exclusive reports, into a single application, per Variety. Multiple platforms appeal to user preferences but cause more difficulties for advertisers who are struggling with an increasingly fragmented TV ecosystem.
Acast has launched the UK’s biggest integrated podcast marketplace, combining audio and YouTube video inventory through a partnership with Little Dot Studios. The deal gives podcasters access to Little Dot’s 11 billion monthly YouTube views and enables advertisers to buy premium CPM audio alongside dynamic YouTube video ads and sponsorships within one system. This aligns with shifting listener habits: nearly half of UK consumers now prefer watching podcasts, and YouTube will reach over three-quarters of the country by 2029. As podcast video growth steadies, Acast’s unified analytics across audio, YouTube, and social offer marketers a more efficient, accountable way to scale creator-led campaigns.
Disney is moving toward a long-awaited CEO transition, aiming to name Bob Iger’s successor in early 2026 after years of instability. Top internal contenders Josh D’Amaro and Dana Walden have already presented long-range strategies, with the winner set to shadow Iger until his contract ends. The next chief will inherit rising streaming expectations, a $60 billion global parks expansion, and the challenge of reviving major film franchises while managing the decline of linear TV. EMARKETER data shows Disney+ and Hulu subscription revenues will keep rising through 2027, but with slowing growth—raising the stakes for a leader who can execute creatively and operationally.
YouTube and NBCUniversal are doubling down on creator-led Olympic storytelling for Milano Cortina 2026 after Paris proved how strongly younger viewers gravitate toward digital personalities. Top YouTubers will chronicle the journeys of 40 Team USA athletes, with unprecedented access inside trials, training environments, and even the Athlete Village. Nearly half of global sports fans—and 59% of adults ages 18 to 44—follow sports influencers, while YouTube captured 17% of all global Olympic engagement in 2024. For marketers, creators now sit at the center of Olympic discovery, highlights, and cultural relevance, making YouTube indispensable to Games-era planning.
Global sports rights costs across streaming and TV will increase 20% by 2030, per an Ampere Analysis estimate. That growth will send the total cost of sports media rights to over $78 billion. Marketing around live sports is paramount because sporting events deliver reliable audiences and high ad effectiveness, especially on streaming platforms. Advertisers with tighter budgets might struggle as costs increase—but there are still opportunities to advertise around live sports without breaking budgets.
Warner Bros. Discovery has entered a pivotal stage in its takeover fight, with Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount Skydance submitting second-round bids and political forces shaping the odds. Comcast is preparing an offer near $27–$28 per share for WBD’s studio and streaming divisions—topping Paramount’s $25-per-share bid—while WBD CEO David Zaslav reportedly wants something closer to $30. Netflix faces new White House antitrust concerns, Comcast faces political hostility, and Paramount Skydance holds the most favorable political backing. The stakes are massive: whichever buyer prevails will redefine the balance of power across premium streaming, theatrical franchises, and high-value CTV inventory.
Nielsen and Lionsgate are broadening their partnership to incorporate measurement of MovieSphere, Lionsgate’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, and its digital network MovieSphere Gold. Understanding the overlap and unique reach of FAST and OTA helps advertisers optimize media strategies and gain a more complete view of campaign performance.
Nine in 10 US consumers are open to watching TikTok-style vertical clips on publisher sites, according to a new survey from Media.net, pointing the way to how audiences consume content and where brands can meet them. Clips shorter than 60 seconds deliver roughly 2.5x higher engagement, per Media.net. By offering targeted vertical video on their websites and mobile apps, publishers can ramp up engagement and time spent. Brands integrating in-stream ads and links on these websites and apps could open up a new funnel for engagement.
Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount have all submitted acquisition bids for some or all of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), sources told Deadline, starting a bidding war that would fundamentally reshape the media landscape. Regardless of the outcome, a restructuring of WBD will impact marketers by unlocking the ability to increase audience reach, run integrated campaigns across premium properties, and simplify media buying.
Sports rights continue to fragment in the digital-first era with Major League Baseball’s (MLB) new media rights deals across Netflix, NBC, and ESPN. The MLB spreading game rights across platforms exacerbates the fragmentation issue advertisers are already facing. With fragmentation only likely to increase, brands that thrive will invest in strategic cross-platform campaigns and keep budgets flexible to follow viewers where they’re watching.
US connected TV (CTV) viewers fall back on YouTube when they can’t find anything else to watch, per Hub Entertainment Research. Ninety percent of 16- to 34-year-olds turn to YouTube at least sometimes when other streaming services don’t meet their viewing needs. Nearly three-quarters viewers age 35 and older make that switch at least sometimes. Poorly performing search and recommendation tools may be partially to blame. Streamers should target demographics and viewer interests and behaviors via platform analytics and interactive or live polls to capture attention, earn trust, and boost stickiness.
A federal judge handed Meta one of its biggest legal wins in years, ruling that its Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions do not violate US antitrust law. The decision leaned heavily on how TikTok and YouTube now compete for the same user attention Meta once dominated—proof, the court said, that the company cannot be considered a monopoly. The ruling arrives just as Reels accelerates across Instagram and platforms converge on short-form video and AI-driven discovery. For marketers, the outcome underscores a simple reality: user attention sits across the big three video platforms, and planning must follow that distribution.
Luma AI has secured a $900 million funding round led by Humain, pushing its valuation above $4 billion and marking one of the largest investments to date in AI-generated video. As agencies, studios, and brands increasingly adopt AI for editing, narration, testing, and full video generation, Luma’s raise signals a shift: AI video is becoming the creative backbone for modern advertising, powering faster iteration, scalable personalization, and multi-format production across every screen.